People, places, companies, products, ideas -- five key things we cover here at SmartPlanet. Where does innovation come from? One or more of these, with a lot of hard work in between.

If there's one thing we covered well in 2012, it's people. It's no secret that there are some brilliant minds out there, and one of our jobs is to tell you their stories. Talk with them face-to-face. Share ideas. Stoke conversation. Indeed, we spoke with several amazing people in 2012 -- you'll find 25 of them below.

We published many more interviews this year; you can find them in the Pure Genius and Business Brains sections of this website. (Indeed, it was hard to select only 25 for this list. They're all wonderful.)

Much more to come in 2013. Subscribe to our newsletter or register with us to keep yourself in the loop!